My daily quest for One Beautiful Thing (OBT)

Block-Busted

So you by now know how much I love free stuff, right? Well wait until you get a load of this!

Alamo Drafthouse, the U.S. cinema chain famous for serving beer in its theaters, may have been sampling their own wares. The company just announced they were opening a brick-and-mortar store right out of the 1980s: a video rental store. Take that twenty-teens! And the store’s business model is where the beer may have kicked in. All 75,000 videos will rent for free. No, I don’t know how they will stay open, but no one knows how so many Blockbusters stayed in business for all those years. It’s one of the great mysteries of the universe!

The stores will be called Video Vortex, and the first store is planned to open in Raleigh, North Carolina, later this year. They plan on carrying both classics and more recent releases. At first glance, the business model seems nuts, but AD has proven that they know what they’re doing. The video stores will have VCRs (!) and Blu-ray players available for rent, and they will also sell growlers from 40-plus local beers makers, snacks, board games, memorabilia, and other crap. You know, all the stuff we never bought from Blockbuster. Plus beer.

Hey, who knows. It might be amazing. I could see it working on the hipsters in Brooklyn and the Lower East Side. Stay tuned!

I do not miss them either- and I recall wheeling the stroller in there – with two kids in tow –
and recall them not having our first and second choice….
my my my we have come a long way – and as noted – likely for the good
and we will see how this other idea turns out

I so hope this works!! Though I do have doubts, what with Netflix & Video on demand… I think it would have the best chance if it would stock esoteric titles (alongside the usual ones). I for one miss video stores!!